NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida dealer of fossils who acquired the remains of a dinosaur that the government plans to seize says he is “not some international bone smuggler” and that he risked his finances and reputation to put together the skeleton to promote a love of science in others.

Eric Prokopi, 37, struck back Thursday at the U.S. government’s account of the Tyrannosaurus bataar fossil it seeks to hand over to Mongolia.